What is a bašta at a café in Belgrade?

A bašta is a café’s terrace or garden seating; the word means garden and came into Serbian from Persian through Ottoman Turkish. In Belgrade a bašta keeps the same opening hours as its café, needs a city permit, and can be removed within hours if it has none.

Where are the most café terraces in Belgrade?

Vračar has the most, especially along Njegoševa and Bulevar kralja Aleksandra, followed by New Belgrade and the streets around Terazije and Kralja Milana. In Zvezdara more than half of the cafés have outdoor tables. Zemun’s Magistratski trg and Savamala’s Bulevar Vudroa Vilsona have smaller clusters.

Until what time can music play on café terraces in Belgrade?

Music on café terraces in Belgrade must stop at 22:00 from Sunday to Thursday and at 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. The terrace itself may stay open as long as the café does, since a bašta follows its café’s opening hours.

Café Terraces in Belgrade: Bašte on Njegoševa and in Zemun

Belgraders call a café terrace a bašta, a word for garden that reached Serbian from Persian through Ottoman Turkish.¹ Under the city’s rules a bašta keeps the opening hours of the café it belongs to, but music outside must stop at 22:00, or 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.²

Vračar has the most terraces, followed by New Belgrade and the streets around Terazije and Kralja Milana. Zvezdara is small, but more than half of its cafés put tables outside, the highest share of any area. Each bašta needs a permit, and since 19 October 2026 a city inspector can have an unlicensed one removed within hours; a company that sets one up without approval now faces a 150,000 RSD fine.³

Local tip: Want music with your evening drink? Sit inside: on a terrace it has to stop at 22:00 from Sunday to Thursday.²

Where these cafés are: Vračar (63), New Belgrade (34), Terazije & Kralja Milana (24), Dorćol (21), Knez Mihailova & Kosančićev Venac (12), Zvezdara (10), Skadarlija & Bajloni (8), Zemun (8), Savamala (8), Palilula & Tašmajdan (4), Voždovac (3), Senjak & Dedinje (2).

At a glance

197Cafés listed

141With opening hours

06:00Earliest opening

04:00Latest closing

Opens earliest: Kralj, from 06:00 (Mon–Fri 06:00–19:30 · Sat 07:00–17:00).

Closes latest: Šešir bar, until 04:00 (Daily 10:00–04:00).

Most common features: open late (53%), indoor seating (35%), smoke-free indoors (26%).

Njegoševa and Bulevar kralja Aleksandra

Njegoševa in Vračar has the longest run of terraces: Baristocratia at No. 31a, Lumi at No. 40, Zona Industriale at No. 49, Norma at No. 52 and Puter at No. 82. Zona Industriale stays open until 23:30 from Monday to Thursday and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and Puter serves until midnight Monday to Saturday.

Bulevar kralja Aleksandra carries terraces out toward Zvezdara. GRM Coffee at No. 72 opens at 07:00 on weekdays, the Baristocratia Coffee Society sits at No. 179, and Mañana at No. 243 is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Elsewhere in Vračar, 7AM’s café on Kumanovska and Koppa on Nikolaja Krasnova both set out tables.

Old town: Kosančićev venac to Dorćol

Denada at Kosančićev venac 1 opens 08:00–22:00 daily. Obilićev venac has a row of them, Jazz Cafe at No. 19, ZuZu’s at No. 21 and Brusnica at No. 27, which runs from 08:00 to midnight. Crveni petao on Cara Lazara also keeps the same 08:00 to midnight day.

In Dorćol, Strahinjića Bana has Lawuk at No. 72a and Pastis Bistro at No. 52b, both serving until 01:00 on Friday and Saturday nights. D59B is at Kralja Petra 70, and UGAO Specialty Coffee puts its tables out at Dunavska 2i from 08:00 to 20:00.

Zemun and Savamala

In Zemun, Fuka on Magistratski trg opens at 08:00 every day, and Cafeteria Gardoš, up the hill on Zemun’s own Njegoševa, is open until 23:00 from Tuesday to Saturday. Eden is on the quay, Kej oslobođenja, and Badem on Klare Cetkin serves until 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

Savamala has a breakfast strip on Bulevar Vudroa Vilsona: Eggz at No. 6 and Brekky at No. 10 both open 08:00–16:00 on weekdays and 09:00–17:00 at weekends, while La Casa De Caffe at No. 8 stays open until 23:00. TT Bistro on Luke Ćelovića Trebinjca keeps its terrace open daily 09:00–23:00.

Winter terraces and the smoking rules

Serbia’s tobacco law applies its smoking rules to enclosed spaces, and it counts a space as enclosed when openings make up less than half of its outer walls, not counting windows and doors.⁴ The walls can be of any material and closed permanently or only for a while, so a roofed terrace sealed in for winter counts as an indoor room.⁴

Since October 2026 a café that puts its bašta in front of someone else’s building needs the consent of that building’s owner or user. Terraces can also be cleared for utility works or public events, and for events the organizer pays to remove and return them.³

Café terraces in Belgrade

At a glance

7AM Specialty coffee shop

Adore

Amelie

Ara

Artist

Auditoria

Avgust kafa i kolači

Badem

Baristocratia

Baristocratia Coffee Society

Baristro

Bell Dock

Bemata

Beverly cafe

BG Scenarium

Bistro Duška

Bistro Savski

Blokić kafe

Bonjour Motherf*ckrs

Bre Cafe

Brekky

Brusnica

Buscaglione Espresso

ca.ca.fe

Cafeteria Gardoš

Caffe Diplomat

Caffe Motiv

Caffe Office

Caffe Sol

City espresso

Clinique

Coffee Cup Đeram

Coffee Pass

Contra

Crveni petao

D59B

Njegoševa and Bulevar kralja Aleksandra

Old town: Kosančićev venac to Dorćol

Zemun and Savamala

Winter terraces and the smoking rules

Sources

Other ways to browse Belgrade

Specialty coffee

Smoke-free cafés

Open late

Wi-Fi

Outdoor seating in Belgrade: questions

What is a bašta at a café in Belgrade?

Where are the most café terraces in Belgrade?

Until what time can music play on café terraces in Belgrade?

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